His First Attempt at Alchemy

Ye Fei knew nothing of Jiang Yiyun's departure.

He remained immersed in his daily practice.

After that, however, whenever practice wore him out, he would take a walk outside, watering and weeding the medicinal fields.

Whenever a high-grade spirit herb ripened, he would secretly save some seeds and plant them in the spirit herb field inside the Azure Dragon Sword.

He also set aside a little time each day to practice the Body Tempering Formula.

Another half month passed.

"I've completely mastered these alchemy hand seals. It's time to put them into practice."

Muttering to himself, Ye Fei rose and walked out of his cave abode.

After a month of practice, he had thoroughly mastered all those complicated alchemy hand seals.

He was ready to try refining pills.

After all, the Shipi Grass had ripened too. Once he learned alchemy, he could refine Skin Refining Pills.

With Skin Refining Pills, his chances of entering the Skin Refinement Realm would be much greater.

Alchemy required flames, however, and he was only a novice in the Qi Refining stage. He had yet to reach Foundation Establishment and had no Innate True Flame within him, so he could only rely on earthfire.

The only earthfire the Free and Easy Gate provided for its disciples was on Qilin Peak.

Thus, Ye Fei needed to make a trip.

"Are you there, Uncle-Master Jiang?"

After some consideration, Ye Fei still went to the entrance of Jiang Mengyun's cave abode, bowed, and called inside.

After all, he did not know how long refining pills would take, so he still needed to ask for leave.

"What is it?"

Jiang Mengyun's soft, lovely voice came from within.

"Uncle-Master Jiang, I would like to go out for a few days."

Ye Fei answered respectfully.

"Go out? What for?"

Jiang Mengyun asked in puzzlement.

"I would like to go to Qilin Peak and use the earthfire there to try refining pills."

Ye Fei answered truthfully.

"Why go to all that trouble just to use earthfire? I have it here. I'll give you a room."

"The third room on the left. The flames there are a little weaker, just right for your cultivation."

Jiang Mengyun smiled faintly, then fell silent after speaking.

So there's earthfire here too. Uncle-Master Jiang really does have abundant resources.

Ye Fei marveled inwardly once more.

Since Jiang Mengyun had said so, he no longer hesitated and stepped into her cave abode.

The moment Ye Fei entered, a faint, pleasant fragrance wafted into his nose.

Passing through the sitting room, he came to a corridor about five feet wide.

The corridor led straight into the depths of the cave abode, with stone chambers on either side-nine on each side, quite a number indeed.

Ye Fei did not know what was inside them, nor did he dare probe casually with his divine sense.

A luminous pearl was embedded overhead roughly every ten feet, illuminating the depths of the cave abode as brightly as day.

Once he entered the corridor, Ye Fei dared not look around and went straight to the third stone chamber on the left.

He opened the chamber door and walked inside.

As soon as he entered, a wave of heat struck him head-on.

It made Ye Fei shudder involuntarily.

Looking closely, he found that the chamber measured twenty feet on each side. At its center stood a platform made of flame stone, a little over a foot high.

The platform was the size of a millstone, with an arm-thick opening in its center.

A tongue of flame flickered ceaselessly inside the opening.

It rose more than a foot above the flame stone and was about as thick as an infant's arm.

Although the flame looked small, it radiated oppressive heat.

Even from over ten feet away, Ye Fei could feel its scorching intensity.

The stone chamber looked quite spacious, but aside from this platform, it contained nothing else.

"So this is earthfire!"

Ye Fei gazed curiously at the constantly flickering flame before him.

He approached, observed it for a while, then sat cross-legged before the platform.

Then he took out the Medicine God Cauldron and placed it on the platform to preheat.

Next, with a thought, he brought out four spirit herbs beside him: green mother root, silverleaf grass, dark frost flower, and golden ginseng.

These four spirit herbs were the ingredients for Qi-Replenishing Pills, which Ye Fei intended to refine first.

After roughly a dozen breaths, the Medicine God Cauldron had finished preheating.

"Rise," Ye Fei said, gently lifting his left index finger.

The Medicine God Cauldron's lid slowly floated upward.

"Go."

Ye Fei pointed repeatedly with his right finger, wrapping the green mother root, silverleaf grass, dark frost flower, and golden ginseng in true qi and guiding them into the Medicine God Cauldron one after another with his divine sense.

As the spirit herbs flew inside, Ye Fei withdrew his left hand, and the lid slowly descended.

Under the control of his divine sense, the herbs hovered in four separate positions, without touching one another.

Since the Medicine God Cauldron had been preheated, the temperature inside was very high. In mere moments, the four spirit herbs began to melt.

Drops of spiritual liquid slowly formed and gathered within the four masses of true qi. In less than half a quarter-hour, the four herbs had melted completely into four large masses of spiritual liquid.

Ye Fei had successfully completed the first step: liquefying the spirit herbs.

Of course, the spiritual liquid still contained plenty of herbal residue.

Ye Fei split off another four strands of divine sense, stripping the residue from the masses of spiritual liquid bit by bit and throwing it out of the Medicine God Cauldron.

Once the residue had been discarded, Ye Fei successfully completed the second step of pill refining-purifying the spiritual liquid.

This step looked simple, but it was extremely difficult in practice, requiring very precise control of divine sense.

Even with his sixth-layer Qi Refining cultivation, beads of sweat appeared on Ye Fei's face after he finished.

Taking a deep breath, Ye Fei followed the steps of the Alchemy Formula and began the third stage: merging the medicinal liquids.

Following the instructions in the Pill Canon, Ye Fei began slowly merging the liquids from the green mother root and golden ginseng.

Bang!

The two had barely begun to merge when they exploded. Violent energy scattered in all directions, blasting the other two masses of spiritual liquid apart as well.

At the same time, the Medicine God Cauldron shuddered, and black smoke poured from within. A burnt smell instantly filled the entire stone chamber.

Ye Fei's first batch of pills had suffered a cauldron explosion just as he reached the third step.

"Cough, cough!"

"What happened? I followed the steps exactly."

Covering his nose with his right hand, Ye Fei coughed several times, his face full of bewilderment.

Once the smoke cleared, Ye Fei sat cross-legged on the floor, carefully recalling everything he had done during the third step.

"I forgot to merge the other two medicinal liquids at the same time."

Ye Fei soon discovered where he had gone wrong.

While merging the green mother root and golden ginseng, he should have merged the other two spirit herbs at the same time.

Moreover, they needed to merge at the same rate. Only then could the medicinal potency inside the cauldron remain balanced.

Otherwise, once that potency fell out of balance, it would produce the result he had just witnessed-a cauldron explosion.

Having found the cause, Ye Fei exhaled deeply, held his breath, and focused once more, taking out another set of ingredients.

With the experience of his first attempt, Ye Fei smoothly completed liquefaction and purification on his second try.

Under his painstaking care, the third step also went smoothly.

The four masses of medicinal liquid inside the Medicine God Cauldron had merged into one large mass, which hovered at its center.

After maintaining such intense concentration through the merging process, Ye Fei's head was drenched in sweat.

Only the last two steps remain. I have to keep steady!

Silently encouraging himself, Ye Fei calmed his emotions and began the fourth step: condensing and shaping the medicine.

This step was crucial to the entire refining process, as it determined how many pills the batch would yield.

However, the Pill Canon also specified the usual yield for each type of pill.

For Qi-Replenishing Pills, the normal yield was six, which was also what the vast majority of alchemists could produce.

Ye Fei was naturally no exception. His target was six pills.

While wrapping the medicinal liquid in true qi, he silently recited the incantation and used the Flame Control Formula, making the earthfire gradually grow.

As the earthfire intensified, the temperature inside the cauldron steadily rose.

With the rising temperature, the moisture in the medicinal liquid evaporated bit by bit, making it increasingly thick.

Its volume also continued to shrink.

After less than half a quarter-hour, the medicinal liquid became a mass of medicinal paste.

Seeing the paste form, Ye Fei could not help breathing a sigh of relief.

Then, with a thought, he sent out six strands of divine sense, carefully dividing the paste into six equal portions and rolling each into a round pill.

Since this was his first time, the process was very slow, taking half an incense stick's worth of time.

Fortunately, Ye Fei had strong control over his divine sense, and after a quarter-hour, he finally completed the fourth step successfully.

"He does have some talent."

Unbeknownst to Ye Fei, when he completed the fourth step, Jiang Mengyun nodded in satisfaction inside the innermost stone chamber.

She had been watching everything he did here.

Reaching the end of the fourth step on only his second batch already put him ahead of more than ninety percent of people.

After completing the fourth step, Ye Fei closed his eyes and began rapidly forming seals with both hands.

As he formed the seals, he repeatedly pointed both index fingers toward the Medicine God Cauldron.

With each gesture, a yellow ball of light flew from his fingertip, passed through the Medicine God Cauldron, and struck one of the six pills inside.

Each time a ball of light struck a pill, it trembled all over, and another layer of yellow light coated its surface.

The more balls of light entered the pills, the thicker the luminous coating on their surfaces became.

Gradually, the pills grew increasingly yellow.

Once their color stopped changing, Ye Fei ceased moving his hands.

"Pills, complete!"

Ye Fei suddenly opened his eyes and formed seals with both hands at once. A ball of light the size of the Medicine God Cauldron instantly took shape.

He raised his right hand and gave the ball of light a gentle slap, sending it straight into the Medicine God Cauldron.

Hum!

After a humming sound, the Medicine God Cauldron's lid slowly rose, and a rich medicinal fragrance drifted out.

Immediately afterward, six yellow pills of identical size flew out and hovered before Ye Fei.

Looking at the six pills before him, Ye Fei's heart surged with excitement.

He had successfully refined his first batch of pills!

"It worked!"

Ye Fei pumped his right fist forcefully in the air, then reached out and caught all six pills in his hand.

Of the six pills, four were somewhat dull and grayish, making them lowest-grade pills. The other two had a slight sheen and were low-grade pills.

"What a pity!"

Looking at the six pills, Ye Fei could not help shaking his head in disappointment even amid his joy.